Microbeads for cell culture and method of monitoring cell culture using the same

Abstract

Disclosed are microbeads for cell culture and a method of monitoring cell culture using the same. More particularly, each of the microbeads for cell culture according to an embodiment of the present invention include a core and a surface modification layer formed on a surface of the core. By using the method of monitoring cell culture with the microbeads for cell culture according to an embodiment of the present invention, cell culture may be carried out in highly scaled-up dimension and easily monitored.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of monitoring cell culture using microbeads for cell culture, the method comprising:
 a step of injecting the microbeads for cell culture comprising a core, a metal coating layer formed on a surface of the core, and a surface modification layer formed on a surface of the metal coating layer into a medium solution including cells in a cell incubator; 
 a step of allowing cells to adhere onto surface modification layers of the microbeads and proliferate thereon; and 
 a step of monitoring the cell culture, 
 wherein the metal coating layer is formed between the core and the surface modification layer, 
 wherein the metal coating layer is an impedance analysis layer, 
 wherein the microbead for cell culture is configured to monitor an adhesion degree of cells on the surface of the microbead and an amount of the micro-bead in a medium by location using impedance, 
 wherein the surface modification layer has a thickness of 1 nm to 20 nm, and 
 wherein the metal coating layer has a thickness of 1 μm to 100 μm. 
 
     
     
       2. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein, in the step of the monitoring, positions of the microbeads in the medium solution are monitored. 
     
     
       3. The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the positions of the microbeads depend upon specific gravities of the microbeads. 
     
     
       4. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein cells adhered to the surface modification layers of the microbeads are stem cells or progenitor cells. 
     
     
       5. The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the cells comprise at least any one selected from the group consisting of adult stem cells, preadipocytes, cord blood stem cells, placental stem cells, dental pulp stem cells, bone marrow-derived mesodermal stem cells (BM-MSC), periodontal stem cells and stromal/progenitor cells isolated from any connective tissues.